


Can Beauty Come Out of Ashes

by Movie_Riggs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Infinity War Aftermath, Potential Lead-In to Avengers 4, funeral fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 07:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15068429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Movie_Riggs/pseuds/Movie_Riggs
Summary: In Memory of Peter Benjamin Parker, 2001-2018.OrNY Mourns Spider-Man.





	Can Beauty Come Out of Ashes

Tony must have sat on the ground of this cursed planet for hours. He had the strength to stand but not the will. Defeat he had felt many times before. What he had never felt, though, was hopelessness. His protege, his ward (Strange's words), the closest thing he had ever had to son, was now a pile of dust at his feet. For all he knew, everyone else on Earth that he cared about could be gone, too. It was almost worth staying and dying here, just so that he wouldn't have to find out.

The cyborg chick seemed to think otherwise. 

"We have to go," she said determinedly. 

Still, Tony didn't move. He thought about what he would do to Thanos if the bastard were here in front of him.

_Nothing_ , he realized. _I would do nothing, because I can't do anything. If I could, he wouldn't have succeeded in the first place._

The invincible Iron Man was not so invincible. 

"Stark. There is nothing more that can be done here."

Tony stood up. Eventually. The cyborg chick was impatient, yet some part of her eyes suggested she at least understood. She was in pain, too. She appeared to have been friends with Quill and his team. 

It was Quill's ship they used to fly off Titan. Nebula took the controls while Tony sat in the co-pilot's seat, huddling his arms about himself. He suddenly found that he felt very cold and very empty. 

When Earth came into view, he cleared his mind enough to direct her toward the right continent, then the right country, then the right state, and finally the right city. The ship was brought down onto the Quinjet landing pad at Stark Tower.

Inside, Tony found a lonely, weary version of his old bodyguard and driver. 

"Happy!" he exclaimed, relieved to find at least one familiar face alive and well. 

Happy did something he had never done before and embraced his boss. 

"Where's Pepper?" Tony groaned, wincing at the pain in his gut.

"She's fine," Happy assured him, pausing only briefly to give Nebula a curious look. "I've been on the phone with her off-and-on since it happened. She's upstate. We should get there now."

Tony shook his head, clutching his side but making his way past Happy. "First, Queens."

"Queens?" Happy frowned. 

"That's right," Tony said, the guilt he felt breaking through his voice. 

"Tony, you need a doctor."

"What I _need_ is to own up to what I've done," Tony stated firmly. "You driving or not, Hogan?"

Reluctantly, Happy nodded. "Yeah, I'm driving." 

He glanced back at Nebula, who was hanging back by the ship. She seemed to want to stay there, so Happy let her.

...

May was not alone when Tony arrived at the apartment. The lovable, heavyset boy who knew about Spider-Man (he couldn't remember if it was Ned or Ted at the moment) and a naturally pretty, stone-faced girl who looked to be the same age were sitting anxiously at the kitchen table. He could tell from their faces that all three already knew just from the fact that it was him showing up at the door.

May slapped him when he confirmed the news for her. More than once. He just stood with his head hung and shoulders slumped, taking both strikes like a champ, because he deserved them. It was on him. Tony had told Peter that very thing, and he knew that the kid died apologizing because he felt he had let Tony down. But it wasn't something Tony blamed him for. Sure, Peter had managed to climb aboard the flying donut when he should have let F.R.I.D.A.Y. send him home, but Tony was the one who gave him the ability to be on that flying donut in the first place. Never mind that he likely would have disappeared whether he stayed on Earth or not. At least on Earth he would have been safer. Would have been with these people who loved him.

May and Ned (or Ted) wept loudly and bitterly in one another's arms. The girl (who Tony realized was MJ, the one Peter was always talking about) let a few tears drop, but she was focused mostly on the broken man in the doorway. Tony got the sense she was reading him. MJ approached him with arms folded across her chest, looking him up and down bitterly.

"All I want to know is, did you have the chance to die in his place?"

_If you only knew how badly I wished I did._ "No," Tony said regretfully. "No. I would have done anything, but...I couldn't."

MJ nodded in satisfaction. Just as long as Tony wasn't standing here because he had failed to sacrifice himself in Peter's place, she could refrain from beating him to death with her bare hands.

...

Tony didn't let himself cry till the funeral, and even then he waited till the few who were in attendance were beginning to leave. He did so quietly, with Pepper holding him from behind and whispering in his ear.

The last to leave were the first three who heard the news from him. May continued to sob relentlessly while the two teenagers did their best to offer a comforting presence, but Tony could tell the kids were just as destroyed as Peter's aunt. 

"We used to quote Frodo and Sam's lines when we watched Lord of the Rings," Ned whispered to MJ tearfully. "I should have been there for him. Sam would have been there for Frodo."

"What, in space?" MJ huffed humorlessly. "You would have done more harm than good, Leeds."

"I know," Ned admitted. "Still."

"It's gonna be okay," MJ said, wondering why she was suddenly attempting to be an optimist. "He's in a better place."

"I thought you didn't believe in the afterlife?" Ned reminded her. 

MJ shrugged weakly, looking up at the dreary sky. "Sure I do." _I have to, now._

Tony had considered telling them that he was planning on purchasing land in the middle of the city just to build a giant statue of Spider-Man, but he doubted they wanted anything to do with him at the moment. Or maybe ever.

As he walked back to the car with Pepper on his arm and Happy a step or two behind, he noticed two figures walking toward them through the cemetery. One of them he knew he recognized, the other he thought he did. Vaguely. 

"Clint."

"Hey, man."

Clint and his accomplice (Scott, Tony remembered after thinking hard) looked none the worse for wear, but both had the Look in their eyes. The one Tony saw in his own every time he dared look at his reflection. The look of loss. He suddenly noticed that Clint's quiver was strapped across his back, and the backpack Scott was wearing probably contained the Ant-Man suit. 

"It's over, guys," he said. "You can hang up your swords."

A fierce glint shone in Clint's eyes, and he nodded at Scott. 

"It might not be over," Scott informed Tony. "I might know a way to fix this."

"You mean... _fix_ fix it?" Tony could hardly comprehend the idea even after saying it aloud. 

Scott nodded. "Reverse things. Defeat Thanos and bring everybody back."

Tony looked over to Pepper, who was listening with wide eyes and mouth agape. He knew she wouldn't want him to fight again. She never did. But this time...this time she wasn't going to make any demands that he stay put. 

Pepper kissed his cheek and nudged him forward. "Work hard," she said, and turned to walk to the car with Happy. 

Tony took one last glance at the headstone. _I'm coming for you, kid._

"Okay," he said. "Let's put the team back together."


End file.
